Two Steps Forwards, Five Steps Back
by sugar.coated
Summary: There's nothing better than when it changes. SLASH. [BobbyRoberto] [sort of, eventually] [sequel to '800 degrees']
1. Chapter 1

**Warning:** Slash, a.k.a. male/male affection of the romantic kind. Not your thing? Find the back-button.

**Disclaimer:** Poor college student here, I own nothing.

**A/N:** This takes place sometime during season 2.

So. Over three years ago, I wrote a Bobby/Roberto fic, '800 degrees'. Almost immediately I planned (and even started) to write a second chapter. But, as my beloved and patient girlfriend can attest to, I talk about writing more than I actually write, so nothing really came out of it. However, some people apparently still like that fic, and want more, so here's my attempted sequel.

I'm trying to make it so that you don't have to read '800 degrees' before this fic, cause, dude, three years. Hopefully my writing has evolved at least some during that time, heh. But you should know that this is the sequel to that fic, and will deal with things that happened there. I also plan to have this be a multi-chapter fic. Yay.

**Two Steps Forwards, Five Steps Back**

Chapter One

_by sugar. coated_

If asked to choose between the two, Bobby will say that secretly pining over someone is much preferable to having an unrequited crush on that person. He will say that while pining in secret can cause random unexplainable blushing, can be frustrating, head-spinning and occasionally pathetic, there is still those moments of happiness. The moments when the object of your affection smiles at you, when your eyes lock, when it seems like maybe there can be something between you. There is still that speck of hope.

Unrequited crushing is final. No chance of anything more than friendship, and if it's really bad, there's not even friendship. But instead avoidance, looking elsewhere, not talking. Yes, Bobby will definitely choose to be secretly pining if given the chance.

No one asks Bobby to choose. (Which probably is just as well, because while Bobby's brain does a lot of very well phrased thinking, his mouth will likely only manage an emphatic but not all that eloquent 'nrgh!' sound of frustration.) In fact, no one seems all that aware of his inner turmoil. Sometimes that makes Bobby want to scream, just stand up on a chair and yell that hey, excuse him, he is going through some heavy personal drama here and doesn't anyone care about that? (But the others have personal drama of their own, that Bobby doesn't care about, so he guesses he'd mostly get blank stares at such an unexciting revelation.)

Most of the time, Bobby is happy about being able to wallow in self-pity as much or as little as he feels like. He really doesn't want to be told to get over it, or be given pitying looks over the bowls of cereal during breakfast. He wants to be able to brood and sulk when he feels like it and then the next moment ignore everything to pull a prank or make some stupid joke, and have people making lame comments about Bobby being bipolar but not pay any more attention to it. Then he catches sight of Roberto ducking into a spare room to avoid having to walk past him, and Bobby wishes someone was paying more attention.

He sighs and scratches his ear, and Sam is still telling some lame story. Bobby pretends to be listening and he guesses that maybe it's karma catching up with him. No one's paying attention to him and his problems, because he can't even pay attention to simple stories. At least people aren't paying attention to that either.

"Dude, are ya listenin'?"

Or maybe some are.

"I thought I saw Wolverine," Bobby lies. _Lame, lame, lame_, he thinks, but Wolverine is the thing most distracting to the teenagers in the institute in any situation.

"What did ya do to his underwear drawer this time?" Sam looks honestly curious. He's also looking around, Bobby presumes it's to make sure Wolverine isn't in fact lurking nearby, prepared to drag them both off to extra Danger room sessions for Bobby's supposed crime. (After all, Wolverine believes in punishing anyone even remotely connected to the culprit, even if that connection merely consist of breathing the same air.)

Bobby scrunches his nose. _I might be gay, but poking at Wolvie's underwear is still far from my idea of a good time_, he thinks, but he doesn't say it because Sam still doesn't know Bobby's gay. As far as Bobby knows. As far as Bobby knows, Roberto is the only one that's aware of Bobby's sexuality, and with how unsuccessful that night of revelations went Bobby isn't exactly jumping to tell everyone that he likes guys.

Especially not Sam, because Sam is nice to everyone, but how would he react? Maybe Bobby shouldn't think like that, but Sam's a southerner so he probably wouldn't be okay with it. Bobby doesn't want to lose Sam's friendship like he lost Roberto's. (Except maybe Sam already knows, because he does share a room with Roberto, and what has Roberto said about it all?)

"That complicated, huh?" Sam teases and Bobby grins at him, embarrassed about zoning out but trying to hide it.

"You know how well thought out all my pranks are," Bobby jokes, but he takes too long to respond. He's taken too long to respond for weeks now, and Sam gives him a concerned look.

"Bobby, are ya alright?" he asks and Bobby isn't sure what to say, because he doesn't know if he is alright or not. He doesn't even know if he should tell the truth or not. He shrugs and looks out the window, looks at the wall behind Sam, at Sam's shoe, but that's as close as he dares. Sam lightly touches his shoulder and Bobby sighs, rubs at his face, looks up at Sam and smiles.

"I'm just peachy," he says, void of sarcasm, and he almost believes himself. Sam looks doubtful but Bobby keeps smiling, and eventually Sam smiles back, hesitant.

"Okay," Sam agrees, "but, if ya ever need to talk or so. . ." He leaves the sentence open and Bobby grins, playfully punches Sam's arm.

"C'mon dude, we're guys, we don't talk," Bobby jokes and Sam grins back. "Let's go see what Kurt's up to, I think he had something fun planned." They start walking down the hallway again, Sam launching back into his story and Bobby really trying to pay attention. He doesn't think it works this time either though. Sam's voice is white noise to him, but it's familiar and comforting, and that's all Bobby wants right now.

**  
TBC**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** Oops. To everyone that cares; sorry about the wait. School enjoys eating my time, and viruses enjoy eating my computer. Oh well, at least I didn't have to delete the entire thing.

Thanks to Aeolus, LostLittleGirl90 and Gryphon124 for the feedback. (:

**Two Steps Forwards, Five Steps Back**

Chapter Two

_by sugar. coated_

Bobby thinks that he needs to stop crushing on Roberto. He thinks this while in the Danger Room, during a training session, and he quickly looks over at Jean to make sure she didn't catch that. Jean is giving him a mildly annoyed glance, possibly because Bobby just missed a clear opportunity to cover the lasers with ice, but Bobby isn't really sure if that's why and attempts to fill his thoughts with polar bears.

Bobby often tries to change his thoughts like this, a somewhat juvenile attempt to make sure Jean stays completely out of his head. Bobby sometimes thinks that Jean hates him, because he knows he'd definitely hate himself if he was a telepath. Of course, he hates himself while being a living ice machine as well; Bobby is quite sure that self-hatred is part of the teenage package. In whatever case, he really does know Jean is too nice to hate anyone, even annoyances such as Bobby.

So Bobby thinks about polar bears and manages to get a hit in with his ice, and he thinks about polar bears and misses the next laser, because Roberto really does look good in the skin-tight, black suit all the newest mutants have. Bobby sort of hates those suits. They definitely work against him on several planes. He catches Jean sending another glance in his direction, and Bobby blushes and tries for polar bears again.

Bobby needs to do something about the entire situation. He knows this.

Afterwards, when they've more or less successfully saved the world from the evil robots ("of doom," Bobby giggles to himself, and anyone else that happens to be close enough to hear), he tries. He follows Roberto, trying to be inconspicuous about it. Once they're away from every one else, outside, Bobby gathers some courage.

"Hey, Roberto," he calls, and Roberto stops and turns, glancing around.

"What?" he asks and crosses his arm. He doesn't look directly at Bobby, instead at a point to his right. Bobby suppresses the urge to look at the same point and instead rushes for words.

"So, eh, how's it going?" he tries. "What a session, huh? I mean, robots, how lame is that really?" He's rambling. It's so very obvious. "I was wondering if we could talk."

Roberto blinks and opens his mouth, then closes it again and looks around before trying for excuses.

"Um, I'm late, for, yeah." Roberto stops trying to be smooth about it, instead simply takes off and flies away. Bobby curses.

_Maybe_, Bobby thinks, _I just need to start crushing on someone else._ This could work. If Bobby would be able to distract himself by pining over another resident of the mansion, maybe his unfortunate unrequited crush on Roberto would just disappear. Bobby considers his options.

Sam and Kurt are both out of the question. Bobby doesn't consider himself to be a stalker by any means, but people taking off mid-talk bothers him a lot when he can't follow them. So, not a stalker, but an obnoxious teenager for sure, and Bobby wants to be able to get all his words out. He scowls at the place where Roberto stood not long ago and continues counting people off.

Jamie is just a kid, Scott is Scott, Dr McCoy is too old. Bobby doesn't even want to think about Professor Xavier and Wolverine, which only leaves Ray and Evan. Out of the two of them, Ray has the least stupid hair. (It's still quite stupid though, and if it isn't the result of a drunken scissor incident, Bobby might have to reconsider his choice.) Ray is also quite good-looking, and has a good sense of humour as long he's not the one being laughed at. Bobby nods to himself, satisfied with his decision. Ray is a good choice.

Maybe this time Bobby will be able to stick to secretly pining.

**TBC**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:** I suck. :D So very sorry about the long wait, school randomly decided to suck me back in once I was free. I also took a trip to the States to visit my girlfriend, whee! Now I'm back home again, so I should hopefully be able to get out chapters more regularly now. (Of course, now that I've typed that, I likely won't. :smacks forehead:) I'm planning to make the chapters longer as well.

Thanks for the feedback Aeolus (I lost your AIM screen name D: ), LiminalMerlin (hopefully it'll lead to an interesting place XD ), Ghene (it's sad how evo slash is mostly a zombie these days :pokes it with a stick:).

**Two Steps Forwards, Five Steps Back**

Chapter Three

_by sugar. coated_

Roberto has been dating Juliana since before he even hit puberty, and in a way he guesses that makes a difference. Because Juliana is cute and very much female, and Roberto felt completely sure that he was completely straight until Bobby kissed him.

Not that Roberto really thinks a kiss is all it takes to change someone's sexuality, but it seems that it's enough to start doubts. At least for Roberto, since it did feel sort of nice, and he does sort of think about it at random, and he's never thought about kissing other guys before. Possibly because he's had no need for such things on the account of having a hot girlfriend (except they broke up just before Roberto left for the X-Mansion, so it's no longer present tense and he keeps forgetting that), but Roberto isn't really sure. He isn't really sure what he thinks about it all, especially what he thinks about Bobby. He does think it's too late to reconsider his preferences at the age of sixteen though.

So Roberto does what he finds to be logical; he tries to avoid thinking about anything related to kissing (and more) involving other guys, and he tries to avoid Bobby.

This is a mean thing to do, Roberto is aware of that. Because Bobby is nice and well-meaning, and Roberto does like him. They're friends, at least they used to be, and to go from friendship to avoidance doesn't feel good at all. It is the only thing Roberto can think of doing for now though, and it seems to work. Then he walks in on Bobby kissing Ray, and Roberto's brain lurches right back into an unpleasant state of confusion.

_The hell?_ his brain exclaims, and Roberto stands frozen in place, trying to figure out just what is going on. If this had been the typical teenage movie the other boys would have noticed him by now, and in a way Roberto wishes that Bobby would turn and see him. Roberto is utterly confused, and he guesses that Bobby's reaction to him could give Roberto a clue how to react in turn, what to think, anything. Bobby doesn't turn however, and Roberto finally gets his legs to listen to the part of his brain that's telling him to leave the room.

_Damn Bobby, trying to make me jealous_, Roberto thinks, scowling to himself while hurrying away from the room. That doesn't make much sense though, because it's not a commonly used room, and he didn't have an actual reason to be right there right then. _Damn Ray_, Roberto tries instead, but that doesn't work either. Ray doesn't know what happened between the other two (_Or does he?_ Roberto wonders, because it would be just like Ray to know of things like that just to give the Brazilian teen something else to fret over.), and Roberto said no to Bobby in any case.

_Damnit!_ Roberto settles for, looking over his shoulder to see if any of the other two have left the room. The corridor is empty and he resists the temptation to go back to check on them again. That would be a little too voyeuristic for Roberto, so he settles for heading to the kitchen instead. That tend to be the most active place in the mansion, and Roberto feels like he needs the distraction. He is not going to start thinking about kissing Bobby again, not when it took him that long to stop in the first place.

**TBC**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N:** . . . yes.

I lost my motivation for this fic for a while, yeah. (Whee end of summer!) And then I joined a X-Men RPG and got distracted. (Whee Evan!) And then I once again managed to get into university. (Whee psychology!)

Thanks to Aeolus (as always (: ), Shy FX, reckless renegade, and BiccaBoo for the feedback. That's what keeps me writing, cliché as it might sound. :D

**Two Steps Forwards, Five Steps Back**

Chapter Four

_by sugar. coated_

The main problem Bobby has is that he doesn't really listen. He makes a very good impression of listening, sure, and sometimes he even does what people tells him to. Most of the time though, he finds his brain stopping mid-action, to holler something along the lines of _Why the fuck didn't you listen to your mom/the professor/that after school special?_ This time, his brain is disgusted with Bobby for not listening to himself.

_Secretly pining my ass!_ is the outcry in Bobby's head as his lips are firmly planted on Ray's, hands resting on the other boy's shoulders. _This is not how you're supposed to be crushing!_ The outcry turns into incoherent gibberish as Bobby realizes that Ray is in fact not kissing him back. _Fuck_, Bobby concludes and moves away, putting space between the two of them once again. Ray doesn't move.

"Um," he says. "Dude, I don't swing that way."

Bobby blushes. That is something he probably should have taken into account before deciding to crush on Ray, and especially before smooching him. Hell, if he'd just considered the issue of contradicting sexualities when it came to Roberto, he would've been able to avoid this entire mess (which is just getting bigger and bigger with each passing moment). In whatever case, he really needs to stop attacking his team mates with kisses.

Especially the one he happens to be sharing a room with, and why didn't Bobby consider that possibly mortifying fact before? He stammers and waves his hands around before settling on just frowning and shrugging.

"Oops?" he tries.

"So, what, you have a thing for me?" Ray doesn't seem disgusted at the idea. He doesn't seem to be flattered either, or anything, really, beyond a vague, disinterested kind of amused.

"Er," Bobby says. _You're just a sort of rebound-guy?_ He blinks and attempts to think, and finally blurts out; "Temporary insanity due to overdose of calculus?" The homework they'd been working on before Bobby decided to have a close encounter with Ray's lips is very difficult, after all, and any kind of break had felt like a good idea (at the time, at least; now, not so much).

"Whatever, man," Ray snickers and shakes his head. "Um. Let's just forget this ever happened."

That makes Bobby so happy he could kiss Ray (which is a stupid saying, really, since kissing is what leads to trouble, at least for the teenage Mr Freeze), and he smiles at the other boy.

"Cool," he says, relieved he didn't cause yet another person to avoid him. He then remembers something he's been contemplating for quite a while now. "Oh! I've got a really important question I've gotta ask you though."

"What?" Ray asks, giving Bobby a suspicious look (not that Bobby blames him; considering how random the kiss was Ray could very well expect the other teen to express his undying love any second now).

"What the _fuck_'s the deal with your hair?"

**TBC**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N:** Ack, I suck. D: Again. Nothing like a take-home exam on scientific theories or whatever to completely ruin my writing time and motivations. This chapter was difficult, and ended up being mostly dialogue. D: It's also short, unfortunately, but I'm trying to get better with the length. (;

Lots of thanks to Aeolus, Gryphon124, BiccaBoo, Shy FX and Burnt-Pidgeons for the feedback. I'm glad y'all enjoy it. (: Do continue letting me know what you like or don't like, it helps me lots.

**Two Steps Forwards, Five Steps Back**

Chapter Five 

_by sugar. coated_

Jubilee ambushes Bobby directly after a Danger Room session, drags him off to one of the dead ends among the corridors in the underground levels. Bobby has no idea why, he's tired and sweaty, and really just want to take a shower and then spend some quality-time with some self-pity and possibly chocolate in his room. Roberto visibly avoided him again today, and no matter how often that happens, it still hurts Bobby each time.

_Boys need chocolate too_, his brain mournfully exclaims, for once in agreement with the rest of his body. He looks at Jubilee, who's bouncy and taking time to inform him just why she's keeping him from his much wanted (and likely needed) shower.

"So, um," Jubilee finally giggles, "do ya wanna go to the movies with me or somesuch?"

"What, like, a date?" Bobby wonders as his brain goes 'bwuah?'. Jubilee giggles some more.

"Yeah, silly, of course like a date. We could even go eat someplace before if you wanna."

"Er," Bobby starts. Blinks twice. He very much did not see this coming. "Look, Jubes, I like you, you're funny and nice and everything," he continues, rambling, and Jubilee gives him an uncertain smile. Bobby goes silent; he knows he should tell her now, instead of possibly giving her false hope.

"I'm gay," he finally blurts out (and it's the first time he's actually said it out loud).

Jubilee gives him a shocked look. Bobby blinks.

"Whoa, really?" she asks (suspicious). "But. . . I thought you liked me."

"Oh, I do like you," Bobby says. Quickly adds "as a friend".

"But you flirted with me and stuff," Jubilee complains, then narrows her eyes at him, "didn't you?"

"No?" It comes out sounding more like a question, but can't remember flirting with her, and is trying to figure out what he's done that might have been seen as such.

"Oh, never mind," she sighs, dejected. Bobby frowns and wonders if Roberto felt as bad when turning him down. In a way he hopes so.

"You know, we could go out anyway," he offers, "in that friends kinda way."

"I s'pose I could ask someone else out on an actual date," Jubilee pouts. "Maybe Ray, he's cute."

"And straight," Bobby notes, almost adds 'he smells nice too'.

"He's got silly hair though."

"Apparently it's a voluntary thing, he thinks it's cool or something."

"Really?" Jubilee gives him an incredulous look.

"Yeah," Bobby grins slightly, "I know."

"Well, it is kinda cool," Jubilee admits.

"It looks like he had a run-in with a possessed lawnmower or something."

"Whatever," Jubilee dismissed his opinion on hair. "In any case, Roberto's cute too."

Bobby scowls.

"Rahne's interested in him though," she continues and Bobby pouts, mutters something non-committal. Jubilee grins, shark-like.

"Don't you think Roberto's cute? You do, I bet you do. What, you've got a crush on him?"

Bobby blushes darkly, he can feel it, and Jubilee snickers, for some reason delighted by the idea (or just Bobby's embarrassment).

"Don't tell anyone," Bobby whines, and she pats his shoulder.

"Don't worry, your big gay crush is safe with me." She definitely seems more cheerful now that she knows that Bobby's miserable in the love area as well. "Does Roberto know?" Bobby mutters something again, not even sure himself what he's saying. Jubilee appears to take it as an affirmative though.

"Aw, Bobster, let's go out for a coffee and discuss our failed crushes," she grins, taking hold of his hand and dragging off with him again. Bobby blinks, not quite sure what just happened and how exactly he got moved so quickly from a crush to someone to gossip with.

"I need a shower," he protests, not knowing what else to do.

"Nah, what you need is chocolate," Jubilee states with certainty (apparently immune to the smell of sweaty teenage boy), and Bobby very much agrees with that.

**TBC**


End file.
